Isa 49:8-17 In a Day of Salvation Have I Helped You - Discussion

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Isa 49:8-17 In A Day of Salvation Have I Helped You

[Study Aired November 10, 2019]

Isa 49:8  Thus saith the LORD, In an acceptable time have I heard thee, and in a day of salvation have I helped thee: and I will preserve thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, to establish the earth, to cause to inherit the desolate heritages;
Isa 49:9  That thou mayest say to the prisoners, Go forth; to them that are in darkness, Shew yourselves. They shall feed in the ways, and their pastures shall be in all high places.
Isa 49:10  They shall not hunger nor thirst; neither shall the heat nor sun smite them: for he that hath mercy on them shall lead them, even by the springs of water shall he guide them.
Isa 49:11  And I will make all my mountains a way, and my highways shall be exalted.
Isa 49:12  Behold, these shall come from far: and, lo, these from the north and from the west; and these from the land of Sinim.
Isa 49:13  Sing, O heavens; and be joyful, O earth; and break forth into singing, O mountains: for the LORD hath comforted his people, and will have mercy upon his afflicted.
Isa 49:14  But Zion said, The LORD hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me.
Isa 49:15  Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee.
Isa 49:16  Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me.
Isa 49:17  Thy children shall make haste; thy destroyers and they that made thee waste shall go forth of thee.

These verses are the continuing thoughts of the Lord towards Isaiah as an Old Testament type of His Israel, His kingdom, His elect. As a reminder of what we discussed last week, here are the last three verses of that study, demonstrating that the Lord considers His elect to be his nation, His ‘Israel’ whom He is in the process of redeeming:

Isa 49:5  And now, saith the LORD that formed me [Isaiah] from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob again to him, Though Israel be not gathered, yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of the LORD, and my God shall be my strength.
Isa 49:6  And he said, It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth.
Isa 49:7  Thus saith the LORD, the Redeemer of Israel, and his Holy One, to him whom man despiseth, to him whom the nation abhorreth, to a servant of rulers, Kings shall see and arise, princes also shall worship, because of the LORD that is faithful, and the Holy One of Israel, and he shall choose thee.

“He shall choose thee” refers both to Isaiah as the Lord’s prophet while at the same time referring to “the Israel of God”, which is “the kingdom of God… within you” and within me. That is demonstrated in the way the Lord refers to Isaiah as Israel in the first three verses of this chapter:

Isa 49:1  Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken, ye people, from far; The LORD hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name.
Isa 49:2  And he hath made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of his hand hath he hid me, and made me a polished shaft; in his quiver hath he hid me;
Isa 49:3  And said unto me, Thou art my servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified.

Christ tells us that His ‘Israel’, His kingdom, is within us:

Luk 17:20  And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation:
Luk 17:21  Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.

When the Pharisees asked Christ about “the kingdom of God”, they were asking about the kingdom of Israel, and in their mind it was a literal physical kingdom which was to dominate the rest of the world. ‘The kingdom of God’ to these Pharisees certainly was not a matter of “being a new creation” as it is described by the apostle Paul.

Gal 6:15  Certainly, it doesn't matter whether a person is circumcised or not. Rather, what matters is being a new creation.
Gal 6:16  Peace and mercy will come to rest on all those who conform to this principle. They are the Israel of God. (GWV)

The book of Isaiah and “the sum of [God’s] word” (Psa 119:160 ASV) demonstrates for us that anything said in scripture which refers to the Lord’s kingdom, also refers to the Lord’s people. As the Lord refers to Isaiah as Israel, He also refers to each and every one of the Lord’s people as His nation, and according to the Lord Himself, anything we do or say about those who are His, we are doing and saying it of Christ the Lord Himself and His anointed.

Mat 25:40  And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. 

Mat 25:45  Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.

Knowing that the Lord refers to Isaiah and to each of us as His ‘Israel’ notice what he is saying to each of us:

Isa 49:8  Thus saith the LORD, In an acceptable time have I heard thee, and in a day of salvation have I helped thee: and I will preserve thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, to establish the earth, to cause to inherit the desolate heritages;

Wow! Those words are addressed to you and me… “I will give you for a covenant of the people to establish the earth, to cause to inherit the desolate heritages.”

How are we to be “a covenant of the people to establish the earth”? The answer is disclosed by the Roman centurion seeking the healing of his servant:

Mat 8:5  And when Jesus was entered into Capernaum, there came unto him a centurion, beseeching him,
Mat 8:6  And saying, Lord, my servant lieth at home sick of the palsy, grievously tormented.
Mat 8:7  And Jesus saith unto him, I will come and heal him.
Mat 8:8  The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof: but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed.
Mat 8:9  For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me: and I say to this man, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it.
Mat 8:10  When Jesus heard it, he marvelled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.

We, too, are under authority, and while the only authority we are given at this time is over the kingdom of God within, the time will come when we will be given authority over the kingdoms of this world. When that day comes, all we will need do is to “speak the word only and, [we will] establish the earth, [and] cause to inherit the desolate heritages” as the new man increases and the old man decreases, first within ourselves, and then to others who are presently within the darkness and bondage of the prison of false doctrines and sin:

Isa 49:9  That thou mayest say to the prisoners, Go forth; to them that are in darkness, Shew yourselves. They shall feed in the ways, and their pastures shall be in all high places.
Isa 49:10  They shall not hunger nor thirst; neither shall the heat nor sun smite them: for he that hath mercy on them shall lead them, even by the springs of water shall he guide them.

These are the Lord’s words which “shall never pass away”.

Mat 24:35  Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.

What this verse tells us is that these words of Isaiah had an application to Isaiah and his time, while at the same time applying presently and inwardly to each of us, and they also have a future application to our part as the rulers of the kingdoms of this world during the thousand-year reign, and then continuing right over into the lake of fire, white throne judgment.

We know these words apply in every age because these verses are quoted in the book of Revelation referring specifically to the great innumerable multitude who come up through the great tribulations of the lake of fire:

Rev 7:9  After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands; [As opposed to those who are numbered as 144,000 in the preceding verses of Revelation 7]
Rev 7:10  And cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb.
Rev 7:11  And all the angels stood round about the throne, and about the elders and the four beasts, and fell before the throne on their faces, and worshipped God,
Rev 7:12  Saying, Amen: Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might, be unto our God for ever and ever. Amen.
Rev 7:13  And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they?
Rev 7:14  And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
Rev 7:15  Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple: and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them.
Rev 7:16  They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. 
Rev 7:17  For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters,: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.

Compare these last two verses of Revelation 7 with these verses of Isaiah 49:

Isa 49:9  That thou mayest say to the prisoners, Go forth; to them that are in darkness, Shew yourselves. They shall feed in the ways, and their pastures shall be in all high places.
Isa 49:10  They shall not hunger nor thirst; neither shall the heat nor sun smite them: for he that hath mercy on them shall lead them, even by the springs of water shall he guide them.

While these words certainly apply to the Lord’s 144,000 firstfruits, they also apply to the innumerable multitude who are raised up to the great white throne judgment in the lake of fire.

Let’s take the time to contrast this great innumerable multitude, who also come up through great tribulation and who also wash their robes and make them white in the blood of the Lamb, with “the firstfruits unto God and the Lamb” who are numbered in the preceding verses of this 7th chapter of this book of “the revelation of Jesus Christ”:

Rev 7:1  And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree.
Rev 7:2  And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea,
Rev 7:3  Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.
Rev 7:4  And I heard the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel.

This very same group of 144,000 are called “the firstfruits unto God and the Lamb in Revelation 14:

Rev 14:1  And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father's name written in their foreheads.
Rev 14:2  And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder: and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps:
Rev 14:3  And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders: and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth. 
Rev 14:4  These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb.
Rev 14:5  And in their mouth was found no guile: for they are without fault before the throne of God.

“The firstfruits unto God and the Lamb” are called ‘first’ fruits because they are “the first to believe in Christ” in Ephesians 1.

Eph 1:3  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:
Eph 1:4  According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:
Eph 1:5  Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,
Eph 1:6  To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.
Eph 1:7  In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;
Eph 1:8  Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence;
Eph 1:9  Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself:
Eph 1:10  That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him: 
Eph 1:11  In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:
Eph 1:12  That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.

Paul was given to reveal to us that “we… who first trusted in Christ… in the dispensation of the fulness of times… have obtained an inheritance  … in Christ [to be] the manifested sons of God… [for whom] the whole creation groans and travails in pain together until now, waiting [to be used of Christ to] gather together in one all things in [the] Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth”.

These “firstfruits” are given this prominence because they were predestined to be the channel of God’s judging grace upon all men of all time who were not granted to have a part of what Paul refers to as “the manifested sons of God” in Romans 8:

Rom 8:16  The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: 
Rom 8:17  And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.
Rom 8:18  For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
Rom 8:19  For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. 
Rom 8:20  For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, 
Rom 8:21  Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
Rom 8:22  For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. 
Rom 8:23  And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.

“The whole creation” of verse 22 is the same as “all in Adam” of:

1Co 15:22  For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
1Co 15:23  But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming. 
1Co 15:24  Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.
1Co 15:25  For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet.
1Co 15:26  The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.
1Co 15:27  For he hath put all things under his feet. But when he saith all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted, which did put all things under him.
1Co 15:28  And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.

These verses here in 1Corinthians 15 give the lie to the false doctrine of the churches of Babylon which teach that “Today is the day of salvation” means that today is the only day of salvation.

2Co 6:2  (For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.)

Nothing is further from the Truth. The Truth is that ‘today is the day in which “it is not give to… the multitudes… to understand… the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven” (Mat 13:11). But they will be given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven “each in his own order”, that order being “Christ the first [of the] firstfruits, afterward they that are are… the firstfruits unto God and the Lamb [Rev 14:14]… at His coming”. “Then comes the end” is neither “the end of the world” nor the beginning of eternal hell fire. Rather it is the harvest “at the end of the year” (Exo 23:16).

The plan of God for the salvation of all men is revealed in the annual festivals of ancient Israel. Christ is the first of the firstfruits, but it is very significant that the feast of Pentecost, the day on which the New Testament church began, is also called “the feast of firstfruits” in:

Exo 23:14  Three times thou shalt keep a feast unto me in the year.
Exo 23:15  [1] Thou shalt keep the feast of unleavened bread: (thou shalt eat unleavened bread seven days, as I commanded thee, in the time appointed of the month Abib [Passover]; for in it thou camest out from Egypt: and none shall appear before me empty:)
Exo 23:16  And [2] the feast of harvest, the firstfruits of thy labours, which thou hast sown in the field [Pentecost]: and [3] the feast of ingathering, which is in the end of the year, when thou hast gathered in thy labours out of the field.

Pentecost is called ‘Pentecost’ because Israel counted 7 weeks “until the morrow after the seventh week” making it 50 days, the word ‘Pente’ meaning 50, and the word ‘cost’ meaning ‘to count’. Lest there is any doubt about the meaning of “the firstfruits of your labors” in Exodus 23, these verses clarify for us that it is speaking of the feast of weeks, called ‘Pentecost’:

Exo 34:18  [1] The feast of unleavened bread shalt thou keep. Seven days thou shalt eat unleavened bread, as I commanded thee, in the time of the month Abib: for in the month Abib thou camest out from Egypt.

Exo 34:22  And thou shalt observe [2] the feast of weeks, of the firstfruits of wheat harvest, and [3] the feast of ingathering at the year's end. 
Exo 34:23  Thrice in the year shall all your men children appear before the Lord GOD, the God of Israel.

James calls all who are called to suffer with Christ in “this present time” (Rom 8:18) “a kind of firstfruits”:

Jas 1:18  Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.

So, the first two harvests, 1) the spring barley harvest at the time of the Passover and Days of Unleavened Bread, and 2) the summer wheat harvest of Pentecost, are both called firstfruit harvests. Passover is the offering of Christ and Pentecost is the offering of the church, which is His body, referred to as “they that are Christ’s at His coming, the 144,000… firstfruits unto God and the Lamb” (1Co 15:23 and Rev 14:4).

The use of the word ‘firstfruits’ in reference to those who are raised up in the first resurrection necessitates that there is also a “harvest at the year’s end, which will dwarf, for sheer numbers, the previous resurrection which takes place at the beginning of the thousand-year reign of Christ and His Christ, His anointed, of whom we are told:

Rev 20:4  And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. 
Rev 20:5  But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.
Rev 20:6  Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.

Being given power over all the power of the enemy in the kingdom of God within us in this present time and being “exalted” to the position of “kings and priests” under Christ during the thousand-year reign is the fulfillment of our next verses:

Isa 49:11  And I will make all my mountains a way, and my highways shall be exalted.
Isa 49:12  Behold, these shall come from far: and, lo, these from the north and from the west; and these from the land of Sinim.
Isa 49:13  Sing, O heavens; and be joyful, O earth; and break forth into singing, O mountains: for the LORD hath comforted his people, and will have mercy upon his afflicted.

We are the Lord’s ‘mountains’ and His ‘highways’. “The dream is one” (Gen 41:25-26). We have already demonstrated that when the Lord speaks to the “heavens and the earth” this, too, is speaking to His people who will indeed “be joyful… and break forth into singing” when the Lord comforts His people and has mercy upon His afflicted.

However, that day comes only through being brought to our wits’ end, to the extent that we cry out “My God, My God why have you forsaken me?“ That day will come to us only “through much tribulation” (Act 14:22, having all) the wood, hay, and stubble (1Co 3:13-16), burned out of our lives by “the fiery trials which are to try” [us] (1Pe 4:12) and by being tormented day and night in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb (Rev 14:6-12) [by having] the seven plagues of the seven angels fulfilled [in our lives].

Rev 15:7  And one of the four beasts gave unto the seven angels seven golden vials full of the wrath of God, who liveth for ever and ever.
Rev 15:8  And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from his power; and no man was able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled.

This book of Isaiah is the source of all those New Testament prophecies, so Isaiah tells us:

Isa 49:14  But Zion said, The LORD hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me.
Isa 49:15  Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee.

These words are repeated in:

Isa 54:7  For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee.
Isa 54:8  In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the LORD thy Redeemer.

“I… have forsaken thee but with great mercies will I gather thee… I hid my face from you… in a little wrath, but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on you” is just another way of saying:

Isa 49:16  Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me.
Isa 49:17  Thy children shall make haste; thy destroyers and they that made thee waste shall go forth of thee.

The Lord must pour out His wrath upon us and hide His face from us for a moment before we can enter into His temple. We are all Joseph’s brothers who sell him for twenty pieces of silver before we are brought to our wits’ end (Psa 107:27) and granted repentance in ‘this present time’ (Rom 8:18). When that takes place our flesh and our old man has served their purpose, and we can then begin to “die daily” (1Co 15:31), be “crucified with Christ” (Gal 2:20), and “present [our] bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God” (Rom 12:1), and our new man can begin to increase as our old man begins to decrease day by day (Joh 3:30).

We will “make haste” to trim our lamps and be ready for the bridegroom, and our enemies and “destroyers who have made waste, of [us] will go forth of [us]” just as Joseph’s brothers went forth from him at his words and only after they had bowed down to him and had worshipped at his feet:

Gen 42:6  And Joseph was the governor over the land, and he it was that sold to all the people of the land: and Joseph's brethren came, and bowed down themselves before him with their faces to the earth.

Gen 45:9  Haste ye, and go up to my father, and say unto him, Thus saith thy son Joseph, God hath made me lord of all Egypt: come down unto me, tarry not:
Gen 45:10  And thou shalt dwell in the land of Goshen, and thou shalt be near unto me, thou, and thy children, and thy children's children, and thy flocks, and thy herds, and all that thou hast:
Gen 45:11  And there will I nourish thee; for yet there are five years of famine; lest thou, and thy household, and all that thou hast, come to poverty.

If our old man is made to bow to Christ within us in “this present time” (Rom 8:18), then our brothers in Babylon will be made to come and worship at our feet and to know the Lord has loved us:

Rev 3:9  Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee.

That is our study for today. Here are our verses for our next study:

Isa 49:18  Lift up thine eyes round about, and behold: all these gather themselves together, and come to thee. As I live, saith the LORD, thou shalt surely clothe thee with them all, as with an ornament, and bind them on thee, as a bride doeth.
Isa 49:19  For thy waste and thy desolate places, and the land of thy destruction, shall even now be too narrow by reason of the inhabitants, and they that swallowed thee up shall be far away.
Isa 49:20  The children which thou shalt have, after thou hast lost the other, shall say again in thine ears, The place is too strait for me: give place to me that I may dwell.
Isa 49:21  Then shalt thou say in thine heart, Who hath begotten me these, seeing I have lost my children, and am desolate, a captive, and removing to and fro? and who hath brought up these? Behold, I was left alone; these, where had they been?
Isa 49:22  Thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I will lift up mine hand to the Gentiles, and set up my standard to the people: and they shall bring thy sons in their arms, and thy daughters shall be carried upon their shoulders.
Isa 49:23  And kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and their queens thy nursing mothers: they shall bow down to thee with their face toward the earth, and lick up the dust of thy feet; and thou shalt know that I am the LORD: for they shall not be ashamed that wait for me.
Isa 49:24  Shall the prey be taken from the mighty, or the lawful captive delivered?
Isa 49:25  But thus saith the LORD, Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered: for I will contend with him that contendeth with thee, and I will save thy children.
Isa 49:26  And I will feed them that oppress thee with their own flesh; and they shall be drunken with their own blood, as with sweet wine: and all flesh shall know that I the LORD am thy Saviour and thy Redeemer, the mighty One of Jacob.